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Equipe Ligier
|years = 1968–present |founder = Guy Ligier |staff = |drivers = |f1years = – |races = 326 |poles = 9 |wins = 9 |fastestlaps = 9 |points = 388 |cchampionships = 0 |dchampionships = 0 |firstrace = 1976 Brazilian Grand Prix |firstwin = 1977 Swedish Grand Prix |lastwin = 1996 Monaco Grand Prix |lastrace = 1996 Japanese Grand Prix |notes = Became Prost Grand Prix in .}} Equipe Ligier ( ) is French motorsport team that competed in Formula One from to . It was founded by former rugby player and racing driver Guy Ligier, who initially created Ligier in 1968. In , Guy Ligier bought the assets of the team and started his F1 team, with a sole entry for Jacques Laffite. The team's first win was at the 1977 Swedish Grand Prix, the team took nine victories, fifty podiums, and one came second in the Constructors' Championship. In , the team was sold to four-time World Champion Alain Prost who renamed the team Prost Grand Prix. The chassis names, e.g. JS5, were named of honour of Jo Schlesser (J. S.), who was a friend of Guy Ligier. History 1976-1978: The beginnings In , Ligier entered Formula One with their single driver Jacques Laffite and their car, the JS5. Laffite secured one pole position and three podiums, and the team finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship. The following year in , the JS7 secured the team's first win at the . Fellow French driver Jean-Pierre Jarier entered the team at the final round in Japan. But again in , Ligier decided to enter with only a single driver for the season. The team had a decent reliability, finishing 14 out of 16 races during the season. 1979-1980: Switch to Ford engines For the season, Ligier switched to Ford Cosworth engines. The team recruited fellow Frenchman Patrick Depailler to race for the team. The team's car, the JS11, was an improvement over the predecessor, securing three wins, five podiums, four pole positions and two fastest laps just before Depailler was in a hang-gliding accident, resting him out for the rest of the season and being replaced by Belgian Jacky Ickx. Ligier signed Didier Pironi from for the season, while Laffite was retained for another season. It was the team's most successful year, finishing in second in the Constructors' Championship with 66 points. After the season, Pironi landed a seat at . 1981-1982: Matra engines Ligier's drivers for the season were Jacques Laffite and Jean-Pierre Jabouille, but due to Jabouille's crash at the last year, Jean-Pierre Jarier were the team's temporary driver for the first two races of the season. Jabouille returned for the , but he was not fully fit and decided to retire from Formula One racing, being replaced by Patrick Tambay for the remainder of the season. He then became the team manager the following year in . Tambay failed to finish any race during the season, retiring from all eight races, while Laffite secured two wins, seven podiums and a single pole position and fastest lap. For , the team signed Eddie Cheever from Tyrrell. Despite a few podiums scored, the team were not competitive as they were in the previous years, and finished eighth in the Constructors' Championship. 1983: Return to Ford The season was a disappointment for the team. Having two drivers Jean-Pierre Jarier and Raul Boesel recruited, the team failed to score any points and failed to qualify two times during the season. 1984-1986: Supply from Renault After a disappointing 1983 season, the team owner Guy Ligier secured the use of V6 turbocharged engines for . The team signed François Hesnault and Andrea de Cesaris for the season. However, it was another unsuccessful year for Ligier, securing only three points and a 9th place in the Constructors' Championship. was a major improvement for the team after an unsuccessful season the previous year. Laffite returned to the team after two unsuccessful years at , with de Cesaris being retained for another year. The team, with their JS25 car and the Renault engines secured two third places at Britain and Germany. However, at the , Andrea de Cesaris destroyed his car in a high-speed roll-over crash on lap 14. As the team had not yet seen the accident on the television monitors, he told the team that the car stalled and that he could not restart it, until the team saw the crash on replay and were shocked. Guy Ligier fell out with de Cesaris and he was sacked from the team, being replaced by Philippe Streiff for the remainder of the season. Ligier finished off their season with a double podium at the , with Laffite finishing second and Streiff third. For , former driver René Arnoux was hired by the team, partnering alongside Jacques Laffite. The team were competitive throughout the season until Laffite had a big accident at the , breaking both his legs and retiring from Formula One. After the accident, Philippe Alliot was his replacement for the rest of the season, but the team could only manage four points. Ligier finished their season in fifth in the Constructors' Championship. 1987-1991: The struggle In , the team signed Piercarlo Ghinzani to partner alongside Arnoux. Ligier were originally supposed to be supplied by engines, but due to Arnoux's criticism of the engine, Alfa Romeo pulled the plug on the project, leaving the team without any engine supplier. The team did not participated in the season-opening until the team acquired the supply of , which was the old M12 engine used by teams such as the previous year. As a result of the engine supply change, the team struggled throughout the season and could only score a single point at the . Ghinzani signed for Zakspeed at the end of the season, so Ligier signed Stefan Johansson for the next year. However, the season would be worse for the team. With a switch to the under-powered engine, the team failed to score any points during the season, also failing to qualify eight times. Johansson left the team and the team replaced him with Olivier Grouillard. As Ligier switched to engines, the season was another unsuccessful year, with the team failing to qualify 11 times, despite finishing in the points at Canada and France. Both drivers would be replaced by Nicola Larini and Philippe Alliot for 1990. Despite a fine reliability with the Ford engines, the team failed to score points during the season. In , both drivers Larini and Alliot were replaced by driver Thierry Boutsen and International F3000 champion Érik Comas. With a switch to the engines previously supplied by and , the team faced another disappointing start to the season, with the car designers Michel Beaujon and Claude Galopin being sacked by the team owner Guy Ligier. Frank Dernie and Gérard Ducarouge were recruited by the team mid-season and upgraded the JS35 to the B-spec version of the car. 1992-1993: The step-up For the season, the team returned to supply the V10 engines and retained both drivers from the previous season. It proved to be an improvement for the team, culminating two fifth and sixth place finishes. The season saw both drivers replaced by two British drivers Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell, who previously drove for and respectively. Ligier kickstarted their season with Blundell finishing in third place at the , the team's first podium since the 1986 Detroit Grand Prix. Results continued to improve for the remainder of the season, and due to the improvement, both drivers left the team to race for and respectively. 1994-1996: Briatore and Walkinshaw's takeover After both drivers from the previous year left the team, the team signed both Frenchmen Éric Bernard and Olivier Panis for . The B-spec version of the JS39 was not as competitive as its predecessor, but was the most reliable car out of all other cars during the season. In the , the team secured their double podium finish of the season, with Panis finishing second and Bernard third. Bernard was dropped after the and was replaced by Johnny Herbert for the , until Franck Lagorce raced for the last two rounds. Late in 1994, Flavio Briatore purchased the team. For the season, Tom Walkinshaw bought 50% of the Ligier team. He intended to take over the team completely but could not purchase the remaining stake of the team, pulling him out of the deal. The team signed Aguri Suzuki to partner alongside Olivier Panis for the season, meanwhile Brundle shared seats with Suzuki for a few rounds. With the engines supplied for the season, the team went competitive through the season. Suzuki retired from Formula One after a qualifying accident in the , and Brundle left to race with the following year. For the season, Pedro Diniz signed for the team from , meanwhile the team retained Panis for another year. At the , Panis secured the team's first victory since the . To date, it is the last victory for a French Formula One driver. After the season, Alain Prost bought the team and renamed it to Prost Grand Prix for . The team would continue on until it folded at the end of . Team Record Team Names Season-by-season record Equipe Ligier Driver Count Category:Constructors Category:French Constructors Category:1976 Début Constructors Category:Equipe Ligier Category:Teams based in France